Switzerland-based financial giant UBS AG’s wealth-management division has launched a new five-year plan on Tuesday to “significantly scale its expertise” to better serve female clients as a result of expectations for faster growth in global female wealth over the next several years.
UBS Wealth Management’s announcement notes that the firm has been piloting initiatives to improve its approach to female clients for the past two years and that it will now extend these efforts throughout the organization.
“The findings from the past two years of work on this topic show that in stark contrast to men, women are much more focused on investing to achieve positive social change,” UBS Wealth Management’s announcement states. Indeed, the firm estimates that female investors could invest US$2.3 trillion to improve social good by 2021.
In addition, women tend to prefer a, “greater focus on their aspirations as opposed to pure investment outcomes,” UBS Wealth Management’s announcement notes. As a result, the firm will refocus client discussions on the core dimensions of business, investments, family and legacy.
Furthermore, the announcement notes that women are a fast-growing market and their global wealth is expected to grow to US$18 trillion by 2021 from US$13 trillion today, amounting to “more than the GDP growth of China and India combined in that time.”
Moreover, the amount of private wealth controlled by women is set to grow by 1.6% faster than men year-over-year for the next five years, UBS Wealth Management reports.
To try and do a better job serving this fast-growing market, UBS Wealth Management will establish a dedicated advisory board to enhance diversity; enhance sustainability, diversity and long-term investment opportunities for clients; train advisors to deliver a “more holistic and value-focused view of wealth”; and improve the diversity of its workforce, including the aim of increasing the representation of women in management roles from 25% to 33%.
“Research shows that women are not adequately served by wealth managers today and this represents a huge opportunity,” says Jürg Zeltner, president of UBS Wealth Management. “We’re making it a business priority to significantly scale up the changes we’ve piloted across our wealth-management business to better serve female clients and are aiming to kick-start long-term change across the financial industry to better serve women. The societal and economic benefits are significant if the industry can get it right.”
UBS Wealth Management will also launch an educational initiative aimed at increasing the financial confidence of 1 million women by 2021.
“Later this year we’ll launch a bespoke financial education program in partnership with leading education organizations to increase the financial confidence of at least one million women by 2021,” says Mara Harvey, managing director of UBS Wealth Management and head of the program. “The idea is to give the next generation of female investors the expertise and knowledge needed to make the most of their wealth.”
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